The Truth Behind The Kareem Hunt Signing

Kareem Hunt is a very talented NFL running back who led the league in rushing as a rookie with 1,327 yards on 4.9 yards per carry. Hunt also had a good year receiving wise as he piled up 455 yards receiving on 53 receptions.

The former Kansas City Chief running back looked to be on his way to duplicating or even exceeding his rookie numbers in year two as he had 824 yards rushing and 378 yards receiving after the eleventh game of the season.

Hunt’s season was cut short but not due to injury. The Chiefs decided to release the immensely talented player after a video surfaced from an incident in February of 2018.

In the video you see Hunt getting into an intense argument with a young woman and pushing her and kicking her. Hunt was also allegedly involved in two other incidents involving fighting; one in June 2017 and another is early 2018 after the Chiefs lost in the playoffs.

Lots of NFL fans thought the career of Kareem Hunt would be over. There is no team that would sign this guy after that video and the other alleged incidents surfaced, right?

On Monday the Cleveland Browns decided to give Kareem Hunt a second chance at playing in the NFL by signing him to a one year, one million dollar contract. As of right now, Hunt is on the commissioner’s exempt list waiting for the ruling on whether or not he will get suspended and how long the suspension will be.

The Browns finished last season with a record of 7-8-1, and they look to be a potential team on the rise going into next season. Cleveland has a very good and young running back by the name of Nick Chubb who had 996 yards rushing on 5.2 yards per carry last season. Chubb looks prime to carry the load next season, so why pick up Hunt with all that baggage?

Reason Number One: Why not? They now have a two-headed monster at running back that can rival any duo in the NFL. The game has changed so much over the years and running back by committee is the new way to go. Even if Hunt is suspended for six, eight or even 10 games, that means you get a 24-year old running back fresh for the stretch run to assist Chubb in the backfield for a team that believes it will be in the hunt for the playoffs.

Reason Number Two: It is a low risk deal. If Hunt has another off the field incident, the Browns can just release him and make themselves look like the good guys. Cleveland will look like the team who took a chance on a troubled young man and then “drew the line in the sand” once he messed up and had to let him go.

Reason Number Three: NFL fans and people in general do not care about other people as much as they like to pretend they do. The list of NFL players who have been accused of or found guilty of domestic violence or some other act that harmed another human being and still got another chance in the NFL is endless.

We all know what happened with Greg Hardy, Reuben Foster and Josh Brown just to give a few examples. There was “outrage” when it came to those guys but no real consequences to scare NFL teams away from signing them. The Eagles went out on a limb signing Michael Vick because people were truly outraged about what happened to those dogs involved in the dog fighting scandal.

Donte Stallworth was drunk driving and fatally hit a pedestrian crossing the street but was back playing football with little to no backlash. Now of course people take drunk driving seriously but not as serious as kneeling during the national anthem.

Yes, I know, why are we back talking about Colin Kaepernick? The case of Kareem Hunt and all the others mentioned in the previous paragraph is a slap in the face to Kaepernick.

Kaepernick did not commit or even get accused of any crimes. Hunt, Hardy and Foster are all better or presumed to be better at their positions than Kaepernick is at quarterback but he is good enough to be a low end starting quarterback or high end back up in the NFL.

The NFL knows what people are willing to stop watching football over and domestic violence or killing someone while driving under the influence isn’t it.

Hunt has not been convicted of anything or put in jail. He does deserve the chance to make a living and his living just happens to be professional football.

No one should be shocked at the fact that a team in the NFL took a chance on a player of Hunt’s caliber who will only be 24-years old at the start of next season.

Being shocked that a team in the NFL picked up Hunt is like being mad that Santa Clause didn’t eat the cookies that were on the table Christmas Eve night. This isn’t Ray Rice. If Rice was about to be 24-years old and averaging 4.6 yards per carry, he would still be in the NFL too.